I.

OF THE DANGER

HIS MAJESTY [BEING PRINCE]

ESCAPED IN THE ROAD AT ST. ANDERO.

Now had his Highness bid farewell to Spain,
And reach'd the sphere of his own pow'r, the main:
With British bounty in his fhip he feasts
Th' Hefperian princes, his amazed guests,
To find that wat'ry wilderness exceed
The entertainment of their great Madrid.
Healths to both kings, attended with the roar
Of cannons, echo'd from th' affrighted shore,
With loud refemblance of his thunder, prove
Bacchus the feed of cloud-compelling Jove;
While to his harp divine Arion fings
The loves and conquests of our Albion kings.

Of the Fourth Edward was his noble fong,
Fierce, goodly, valiant, beautiful, and young :
He rent the crown from vanquish'd Henry's head,
Rais'd the White Rofe, and trampled on the Red:
Till Love, triumphing o'er the victor's pride,
Brought Mars and Warwick to the conquer'd fide:
Neglected Warwick (whose bold hand, like Fate,
Gives and refumes the fceptre of our state)
Woos for his master; and with double fhame,
Himself deluded, mocks the princely dame,
The Lady Bona, whom just anger burns,
And foreign war with civil rage returns.
Ah! fpare your fwords, where beauty is to blame;
Love gave th' affront, and must repair the fame :
When France hall boast of her, whofe conqu'ring

These mighty peers plac'd in the gilded barge, Proud with the burden of fo brave a charge, With painted oars the youths begin to sweep Neptune's fmooth face, and cleave the yielding deep; Which foon becomes the feat of sudden war Between the wind and tide that fiercely jar. As when a fort of lufty fhepherds try Their force at football, care of victory Makes them falute fo rudely breast to breast, That their encounter feems too rough for jeft; They ply their feet, and still the restless ball, Tofs'd to and fro, is urged by them all : So fares the doubtful barge 'twixt tide and winds, And like effect of their contention finds. Yet the bold Britons still securely row'd; Charles and his virtue was their fecret load; Than which a greater pledge Heav'n could not give,

That the good boat this tempeft should outlive.

But ftorms increase, and now no hope of grace Among them fhines, fave in the Prince's face; The reft refign their courage, skill, and fight, To danger, horror, and unwelcome night. The gentle veffel (wont with state and pride On the smooth back of filver Thames to ride) Wanders aftonish'd in the angry main, As Titan's car did, while the golden reign Fill'd the young hand of his advent'rous fon When the whole world an equal hazard run To this of ours, the light of whofe defire Waves threaten now, as that was scar'd by fire, Th' impatient Sea grows impotent, and raves, That, Night affifting, his impetuous waves Should find refiftance from fo light a thing; These furges ruin, those our fafety bring. Th' oppreffed vessel doth the charge abide, Only because affail'd on ev'ry fide: So men with rage and paffion fet on fire, Trembling for hafte, impeach their mad defire.

The pale Iberians had expir'd with fear, But that their wonder did divert their care, To fee the Prince with danger mov'd no more Than with the pleasures of their court before: Godlike his courage feem'd, whom nor delight Could soften, nor the face of death affright,

T Phaeton

[quell'd

Next to the pow'r of making tempefts cease
Was in that storm to have fo calm a peace.
Great Maro could no greater tempeft feign,
When the loud winds ufurping on the main
For angry Juno, labour'd to destroy
The hated relics of confounded Troy :
His bold Æneas, on like billows toft
In a tall fhip, and all his country loft,
Diffolves with fear; and both his hands upheld,
Proclaims them happy whom the Greeks had
In honourable fight; our hero, fet
In a small shallop, Fortune in his debt,
So near a hope of crowns and fceptres, more
Than ever Priam, when he flourish'd wore;
His loins yet full of ungot princes, all
His glory in the bud, lets nothing fall
That argues fear: if any thought annoys
The gallant youth, 'tis love's untafted joys,
And dear remembrance of that fatal glance,
For which he lately pawn'd his heart in France;
Where he had feen a brighter nymph than fhe *
That fprung out of his prefent foe, the fea.
That noble ardour, more than mortal fire,
The conquer'd ocean could not make expire;
Nor angry Thetis raise her waves above
Th' heroic Prince's courage or his love:
'Twas indignation, and not fear he felt,
The fhrine fhould perish where that image dwelt.
Ah, Love forbid! the nobleft of thy train
Should not furvive to let her know his pain;
Who nor his peril minding nor his flame,
Is entertain'd with fome lefs ferious game,
Among the bright nymphs of the Gallic court,
All highly born, obfequious to her sport:
They rofes feem, which in their early pride
But half reveal, and half their beauties hide;
She the glad morning, which her beams does throw
Upon their finiling leaves, and gilds them fo;
Like bright Aurora, whofe refulgent ray
Foretells the fervour of enfuing day,
And warns the shepherd with his flocks retreat
To leafy fhadows from the threaten'd heat.

From Cupid's ftring of many shafts, that fled, Wing'd with thofe plumes which nolle Fame had fhed,

As through the wond'ring world fhe flew, and told
Of his adventures, haughty, brave, and bold;
Some had already touch'd the royal maid,
But Love's first fummons feldom are obey'd:
Light was the wound, the Prince's care unknown;
She might not, would not, yet reveal her own;
His glorious name had fo poffefs'd her ears,
That with delight thofe antique tales the hears
Of Jafon, Thefees, and fuch worthies old,
As with his story best resemblance hold.
And now the views, as on the wall it hung,
What old Mufæus fo divinely fung;
Which art with life and love did fo inspire,
That fhe difcerns and favours that defire;
Which there provokes th' advent'rous youth to
And in Leander's danger pities him; [fwim,
Whofe not new love alone, but fortune, fecks
To frame his story like that amorous Greek's.

For from the stern of fome good fhip appears
A friendly light, which moderates their fears:
New courage from reviving hope they take,
And climbing o'er the waves that taper make;'
On which the hope of all their lives depends,
As his on that fair hero's hand extends.
The fhip at anchor, like a fixed rock,
Breaks the proud billows which her large fides
knock;

Whofe rage reftrained, foaming higher fwells,
And from her port the weary barge repels.
Threat'ning to make her, forced out again,
Repeat the dangers of the troubled main.
Twice was the cable hurl'd in vain: the Fates
Would not be mov'd for our fifter states.
For England is the third fuccef-ful throw,
And then the genius of that land they know,
Whose prince must be (as their own books devife)
Lord of the fcene where now his danger lies.

Well fung the Roman bard, “All human things
"Of deareft value hang on flender strings."
O fee thee then fole hope, and in defign
Of Heav'n, our joy, fupported by a line!
Which for that inftant was heav'n's care above,
The chain that's fix'd to the throne of Jove,
On which the fabric of our world depends,
One link diffolv'd, the whole creation ends.

II. .

OF HIS MAJESTY'S

RECEIVING THE NEWS OF THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM'S DEATH. So earnest with thy God! can no new care, No fenfe of danger, interrupt thy pray'r? The facred Wreftler, till a bleifing given, Quits not his hold, but halting, conquers Heav'n. Nor was the stream of thy devotion ftopp'd, When from the body fuch a limb was lopp'd, As to thy prefent ftate was no lefs maim, Though thy wife choice has fince repair'd the fame. Bold Homer durft not so great virtue feign In his beft pattern; of Patroclus flain, With fuch amufement as weak mothers ufe, And frantic gefture, he receives the news. Yet fell his darling by th' impartial chance Of war, impos'd by royal Hector's lance; Thine in full peace, and by a vulgar hand Torn from thy bofom, left his high command. The famous painter could allow no place For private forrow in a prince's face: Yet, that his piece might not exceed belief, He caft a veil upon fuppofed grief. 'Twas want of iuch a precedent as this Made the old Heathen frame their gods amifs. Their Phoebus fhould not act a fonder part For the fair boy, than he did for his hart; Nor blame for Hyacinthus' Fate his own, That kept from him wifh'd death, hadft thou been known.

'He that with thine fhall weigh good David's Shall find his paflion nor his love exceeds; [deeds,"